Zombified (Book 1): Hudson Place (10 page)

“
Let’s get the
hell
out of here,” Dexter said slowly, waving his flashlight in the air and backing up as he spoke.

****

Charlie took a deep breath to steady his nerves and stepped into the doorway. The zombie was a woman and long, dark stringy hair obscured her face, which suited Charlie just fine. She was sitting in a chair facing the doorway, her head was hanging down and it looked like she was eating something. Charlie didn’t want to get any closer, didn’t want to see what was in her hands. He felt a nudge from behind and reluctantly took a step forward. Someone gasped, and the thing jerked its head up and hissed at them. Charlie expected the eyes to be filmed over, he was shocked to see that they weren’t dead eyes at all, strange eyes yes, but not dead. Her eyes were completely black; they flashed with an awareness that raised the hair on the back of his neck.

The moment Charlie took another step forward, rifle poised to shoot; he was startled by a loud explosion from below. He looked back for a second, which was the wrong thing to do. In an instant, the woman-zombie creature flew out of the chair and rushed him. She slammed both hands into his chest, sending him flying into someone behind him and they both went down with her on top.

Charlie held his rifle up, effectively keeping the keening and snarling woman from biting his face. He could hear her teeth snapping together almost rhythmically as she tried to get at him. Her breath was beyond putrid and her teeth were covered with bits of stringy red flesh. All around him pandemonium broke out. Everyone was shouting and Charlie desperately wished someone would pull her off of him and whomever he was laying on. Whoever it was, they were struggling beneath him, he could hear them gasping.

“
Get her off!” he yelled as he finally found his voice. “NOW!”

Immediately, he saw several pairs of hands grab the woman and jerk her away. Charlie rolled to his side; it was Darrell he’d fallen over. He jumped to his feet and held out a hand to Darrell who grabbed it and as Charlie pulled him up, several shots rang out.

The woman-zombie lay sprawled on the ground. The rest of Charlie’s group burst into the hallway from the apartment they had been searching. They all stood there in shocked silence for a moment, staring at her body.

Out of the corner of his eye, Charlie saw Gordon stagger and lean against the wall. “Gordon, you ok?” he asked shakily.

Gordon was holding a hand up to his cheek and slowly lowered it, staring at the blood on his fingers. “I think so,” he said in a weak voice. “She scratched me is all.”

Charlie grimaced when he saw two long and nasty scratches running down from Gordon’s temple to the corner of his mouth. He remembered that Dave had told them you could only become infected from direct contact with body fluids, so although the scratches were nasty, Charlie figured Gordon should be all right.

“
As soon as we get back to the shelter, have Doctor Weaver clean that,” he advised. “You don’t want it to become infected.”

One of the men Charlie didn’t know handed Gordon a handkerchief, which he now held to his bleeding face. “Will do. I don’t think it’s too bad, just stings a bit,” Gordon said with a small grin which caused him to wince in pain.

Charlie took a deep breath and looked at his group. “We’re almost done, let’s get this last apartment checked and get back downstairs. We’ve got people to move over here before it gets dark.”

As they began to enter the apartment again, what sounded like a herd of elephants came pounding up the stairs. After what they’d just experienced, everyone raised their weapons and Dexter, his entire group right behind him, came into view.

“
Whoa there!” Dexter yelled, raising his hands in the air. “What’s going on up here?”

Charlie’s group immediately lowered their weapons and all began talking at once. Dexter caught sight of the body on the ground and gave Charlie a questioning glance.

“
We’re ok,” Charlie tried to assure Dexter. “We just got surprised.” His eyes narrowed. “What was that explosion we heard downstairs?”

“
Oh that, I used a flash-bang before we went traipsing into the basement,” Dexter said with a shrug.

“
You might have warned us before you did that,” Charlie admonished.

“
Sorry about that, you’re right,” Dexter admitted rather sheepishly to Charlie’s surprise. “My bad. So, is everyone all right?”

Charlie inclined his head in Gordon’s direction. “Gordon got scratched, but he should be ok.”

Dexter frowned, and then stepped over to clap Gordon on the back. “Man, so sorry about that, I’m glad she didn’t bite you or you’d be toast.”

Gordon merely nodded, his eyes on the ground as he continued to hold the handkerchief up to his cheek.

“
Dexter, we’re getting ready to check this last apartment,” Darrell said from behind Charlie as he motioned toward the open door. “Charlie was saying we need to finish this up and get going.”

“
Tell ya what,” Dexter said as he puffed out his chest. “We’ll do that, why don’t you all head back so Gordon can get that cheek looked at and we’ll meet you back there as soon as we’re done.”

Charlie studied on that for a moment before nodding his head. “We can do that, but shouldn’t we keep some people here? We need to board up the lower windows and get the doors fixed some way.”

After a quick discussion, Charlie headed downstairs with Gordon, Darrell, Travis and his mother, Judith. The rest would stay behind to finish securing the building. Once they were finished, they’d come for everyone.

Charlie didn’t want to admit it, but he was glad Dexter stayed behind. He’d almost gotten someone killed and Charlie wouldn’t soon forget it.

Chapter 9

Mick almost reached the door leading downstairs, when he felt a blast of warm air hit him. He dropped to the ground, jerking Cindy down with him. Although the explosions were going off about a mile away, Mick didn’t know how far shrapnel could travel and he wasn’t taking any chances. They lay on the ground for several seconds; Mick put his arm protectively over Cindy’s head as another, even louder explosion shook the building. He could hear a roaring/whooshing sound and thought he could almost feel the heat coming off the conflagration behind them.

As Mick lay there, he felt a hand grab his. He jerked his head up to see Dave crouched down in the doorway. He was yelling something, but Mick couldn’t hear him. Dave pulled on his hand and yelled again, “Mick! Crawl toward me!”

This time, Mick heard him faintly and looked down at Cindy, tapping her with his hand that had been covering her head. As she looked up, Mick could see tears streaming down her face. He jerked his head twice toward Dave’s direction and Cindy slowly raised her head high enough that she saw Dave. She looked back at Mick and nodded. Mick began to slowly crawl forward; he put his arm around her waist to help her as she moved up beside him and together they inched their way through the door.

As soon as they were through, Mick turned around and closed the door, then leaned against it and drew Cindy to his chest. She was shaking and sobbing quietly, and as he stroked her hair, he looked up at Dave gratefully.

Dave bent down and touched Cindy on the arm. “Let’s get downstairs,” he said gently. At Cindy’s nod, he helped her to her feet.

Mick surprised himself by getting up on his own. Dave handed Cindy back to him, and with his arm around her shoulders, they slowly followed Dave down the stairs. Dave walked sideways so they could see the stairs by the beam of his flashlight. He kept glancing up at them, concern etching his face as he led them through the door and into the living area. Mick squinted against the bright light in the room, it looked like everyone was up and milling around.

“
Mom! Dad!” Brooke squealed as she ran over and tried to hug both of them. “I was sooo scared! I couldn’t find you guys and I didn’t know what was happening,” she said in a rush.

“
We’re fine,” Mick managed to say. “Brooke honey, let me set your Mom down on the couch and we’ll talk, ok?”

Brooke immediately moved back and followed them to the couch. As soon as they sat down, she grabbed Cindy’s arm and clung to it. Cindy gave her a faint smile, Mick noticed she had stopped crying and was trying to get herself together.

“
It’s ok Brooke,” she said in a faint voice, as she wiped her tear-streaked face with her free hand. “As your Dad said, we’re fine.”

Brooke peered closely at her parents, then straightened up and smiled, satisfied that her parents were all right. She looked over their heads and said in a loud voice, “Sean...Scott, they’re ok!”

Mick turned his head to see them standing off to the side, their own arms around their wives, but their eyes were on Mick and Cindy. He gave them the best “we’re just great” smile he could manage. Both of them smiled back at him, although he could still see the worry in their eyes.

“
Listen up!” Dave said in a commanding voice and immediately everyone quieted. “We’ve all had a big scare, but I think we’re ok. We had a few windows broken out, but I think that’s the worst of it, other than all of us being half frightened to death.” He continued in a lower voice. “I think an oil tank exploded, and if I remember correctly there’s a gasoline storage area over there that may have went up too, that would account for all the explosions. Lucky for us, they’re far enough away that we shouldn’t be in any danger, so I think the best thing we can do is keep an eye on the situation for now.”

Cindy looked around and asked with a slight frown, “Where are the kids?”

“
No worries Mom,” Scott answered. “When we heard the first explosion, I think everyone except Dave rushed in to check on the kids and believe it or not, they seem to be sleeping through the whole thing. Lindsey’s feeling a lot better so she and Megan are keeping an eye on them.”

“
That’s a relief,” she replied. “I’m glad they didn’t wake up. If it scared us this bad, just think what it would have done to them.”

Mick hugged her to him, he was doing his best to calm down and he knew she was still upset because he could feel her still shaking.

“
Tomorrow we should get a better idea of what happened,” Dave said. He looked at his watch. “I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but we should all try to get some sleep. The kids will be up bright and early tomorrow and we can’t be dragging around.”

He looked at his watch again. “It’s my turn on the balcony, but I think I’ll stay inside and watch from in here. Scott, your shift is after mine, you do the same. I don’t want anyone outside until we can be sure it’s safe.”

Dave walked over to Lilly and put an arm around her waist. “Goodnight everyone, see you in the morning.”

Dismissed, they all began talking again as they headed for the third floor. Mick stood up and turned to help Cindy, but Brooke had already pulled her mother up to her feet.

“
Can I stay with you guys tonight, pretty please,” Brooke implored, her eyes darting between Mick and Cindy.

Mick’s heart melted and he was glad when Cindy told her she could. Together they walked through the kitchen and down the stairs.

****

Mick knew all three of them wouldn’t fit in the full bed, so he spent the night in a sleeping bag on the floor. He didn’t sleep well, and as soon as dawn broke he got up. After taking a long hot shower, he headed upstairs for a much needed big cup of coffee.

He was surprised to see Sarah and Denise already up and deep in conversation. For some reason, he’d always thought when the boys married, that they would have similar tastes in a mate, but Sarah and Denise were as different as night and day. Sarah was on the short side and slender, with a rosy complexion and hair so dark it was almost black. She had the prettiest blue-gray eyes, Heather and Sally looked just like her. Denise on the other hand, was almost as tall as Sean, and had a trim, athletic build. She was tanned from sunning on the rooftop, which was striking against her long blonde hair and bright green eyes. Even though they looked so very different, they were the best of friends and he was sorry he’d interrupted their conversation. He was also relieved to see they were speaking to each other again after the argument they’d had the other day.

“
Morning ladies,” he said with a grin as he headed straight for the coffee pot. “Are we the only ones up?”